Firebomb (The Jewel Project #2)

02.1|| The Babysitter

Chapter Two

The Babysitter

Sam scrubbed the bathroom floor of the guestroom, cursing his luck. Not only had his father left a ton of work for him at the office, but their grandmother was due to arrive any moment. It would've been so easy for his parents to just go on vacation and leave them alone. That way, they wouldn't have to make up excuses for getting out of the house to go train.

And if someone really had to come babysit, he wished his Grandma Sophie could come. But she lived in France. And Sam hadn't seen her for the past three years at least. But Grandma Sophie was the cool grandma who treated them with respect and their parents as if they were the kids. Grandma Grace on the other hand...

"Sam, the battleax got here!" Kyle called from downstairs.

Ah, crap! Sam scrubbed the last tile on the floor with new found energy and hurried to hide the bucket and detergent before rushing down the stairs. He was too late. His grandmother was already in the living room, staring at him with disapproval. She wore a dark brown wool dress over her skinny frame and a shawl draped over her hunched shoulders even if it was summer. She crinkled her straight, thin nose. Her usual rectangle glasses and severe bun were in place.

"Samuel Sirius. Late, as usual."

Sam cringed. He hated his full name, hated the prissiness of his middle name. "Hello, grandma."

"Grandmother. What, are you too lazy to finish a word?" She twitched her nose then opened her arms. "Come give your grandmother a hug."

Sam obeyed and eyed the rest of his brothers over grandma's shoulder. Jerry and Kyle looked resigned, Billy terrified, while Jimmy and Tom were more likely shocked. Tom caught Sam's eye and sniggered, probably at his middle name. Who gave parents the right to screw up their children's life like that?

Grandma let Sam go and turned to the others. "Jerry, be a good boy and take grandmother's luggage upstairs." She pointed to a great big trunk.

Jerry blanched but nodded.

"I'll take it," Kyle whispered and Jerry's shoulders relaxed.

"You!" Grandma moved her attention to Kyle. "Nice to see you're still here." She eyed him up and down, then gave him a hug. Her arms barely reached around his torso. "You've improved your posture, too. I told you a million times not to slouch. You are a little too bulky. What, are you training to be a pro wrestler?"

"I go to the police academy, grandma, you know that," Kyle said, to his credit not sounding exasperated.

Sam was already used to how their grandma pretended to forget every detail of their lives until she actually needed to pull something out for a lecture. She had the memory of an elephant, but liked to pretend she had no idea what was going on. It was some sort of psychological strategy to make them feel uncomfortable, he guessed.

Grandma narrowed her eyes at Kyle. "Grandmother."

"Yes, grandma, I know you're my grandmother."

"Don't give me sass, boy," Grandma said poking him in the chest.

Kyle pursed his lips, hiding a smile and just bent his head as though admitting defeat. Grandma nodded curtly, accepting the silent apology and turned to Billy.

"Well, Willy, it's a nice surprise to find you here."

Billy cringed. "It's Billy, grandmother."

"Your name is William, and if you don't want to use your full name, Willy is much better than Billy. What are you, a goat?"

Billy didn't respond which was probably wise since grandma surely had another few caustic shots locked and loaded.

"I'm getting the hell out of this house," Billy muttered, but grandma didn't hear. She was busy staring at Jimmy and Tom as though searching for fabrication flaws.

"Welcome to the family, boys. Tom, I hope you don't have Sam's habit of always being late. And Jimmy..." She considered him, but she and Jerry had always gotten along, so she didn't have to make any veiled insult. "You're a little skinny."

"I'm working on it, Grandmother." Jimmy smiled and grandma actually smiled back.

"Let's go fix you something decent to eat. Your mother was never any good at cooking." She headed towards the kitchen, obviously waiting for the rest of them to follow.

"Why doesn't anyone complain about how skinny I am?" Tom mumbled on his way to the kitchen.

"I guess you're not as skinny as Jimmy," Sam answered.

"Of course I'm not, he gave me all his food."

* * *

Sam was quickly reminded why he hated his grandma's visits. She wanted to know where they were and what they did every second of every day. And since his parents weren't there to provide a distraction, she focused her entire attention on them. Getting to training was becoming more and more difficult as they quickly ran out of activities they could all pretend to do at the same time.

To make matters worse, Grandma made sure Sam got up early every morning and went to the agency to finish his chores. But at least that way, he got some respite from her and could see Christine. Jerry was stuck home with her most of the day, scrubbing the house spotless.

Billy had made good on his threat and made a run for it. He'd bunked up with Harry for the reminder of grandma's visit, and Sam was a little jealous he hadn't thought of it first. Though Billy had lied and said he was going home. Sam was home already.

Come the evening, they all gathered in the living room around the TV for what grandma called 'family time'. Sam stared at the clock, wondering how much longer he'd have to stay there and pretend to watch the Spanish soap her grandma enjoyed. He'd asked Christine out that evening, and even if it was just for a walk in the park, he didn't want to have to cancel just because grandma couldn't watch TV by herself.

The tongues clicked at every second, and Sam hoped grandma would tell them to go to bed or something. The others didn't seem to mind. Jerry had taken advantage that his armchair wasn't directly in grandma's line of sight and was actually reading. Next to grandma on the couch, Tom seemed to be asleep, but it was hard to tell with his sunglasses. Jimmy actually seemed to be watching the telenovela, a small crease between his eyebrows as if he couldn't understand what was going on. Kyle sat on another armchair, his legs draped over the arm, playing on his phone.

"Grandma, can I be excused?"

"For the millionth time, Sam, why is it so hard to call me Grandmother?" She didn't even look at him as she said this.

Sam shrugged. "Force of habit. Why does it matter anyway? I think it's a form of endearment."

"I think you're just too lazy to get the entire word out."

Sam gritted his teeth. "Can I be excused?"

This time, Grandma did turn to stare him down through narrowed eyes. "Why? Do you have something more important than family time pending?"

Crap, he knew what would happen if he said yes. He'd be grounded in two seconds. He looked Grandma straight in the eyes, hoping to assert dominance that way. If he could have her back down, he'd just leave. But his grandmother didn't look away. She held his gaze, boring into him as if to teach him who's boss. And as she started at her, Sam noticed her eye color for the first time. Hidden well behind her glasses were brown eyes, so dark that they almost seemed black. Jerry and Jimmy's eyes.

"Grandmother, who did I get my eyes from?" he asked. The others all turned their attention to him, apparently grateful for the conversation.